A well-known American soap-opera star has become a Christian. She was baptized in a private ceremony that was much publicized.

Sounds rather good, doesn’t it? And indeed there is something good about the story: a baptism, a soul made new in Christ, and in a nation rapidly becoming secular and deeply in need of a New Evangelization.

But it’s a bit more complicated than that.

Meghan Markle’s baptism, by Anglican Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, is a necessary precondition for her marriage to HRH Prince Harry, younger son of the Prince of Wales and currently fourth in line to the throne of the United Kingdom. Her May marriage will bring her into the Royal Family, and attendance at Church of England services from time to time will be part of her public life — from Christmas Day in a village church in Norfolk to formal gatherings marking national events in Westminster Abbey. Hence the baptism.

There is no question the baptism is valid. While it is true that some in the Anglican Communion like to use “nonsexist” semi-pagan language such as “I baptize you in the name of the Creator, the Redeemer and the Sanctifier” in place of “the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit,” this was certainly not be the case here.

Royal events involve traditional Anglican use — echoes of the Book of Common Prayer together with current formal language. No political correctness and no jargon: just the traditional Christian formula as instructed by Christ in Matthew 28:19, “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.”

Strictly speaking, no one is actually baptized into the Church of England. Baptism simply makes the person a Christian, washing away sin and forming a bond with Christ. It involves pouring water over the head — or full immersion in water — while saying the words Christ gave. No one can be “rebaptized”; it is a once-only event, imposing a character on the soul forever. It is an absolute precondition for receiving other sacraments: only a baptized person may receive Communion or be confirmed.

The Church of England officially holds to this understanding. Miss Markle, who was raised Protestant but attended a private Catholic high school in Los Angeles, was confirmed immediately after her baptism as part of the same ceremony in the chapel at St. James Palace in London. And, should she wish, she will now be able to take part fully in a C of E Communion service in any Anglican church.

The Catholic Church has at times been dubious about Anglican baptisms. In the late 18th century and into the 19th century, it was not unknown for a Church of England clergyman, lax in his duties, to scatter water over a batch of babies, speaking hurriedly and failing to ensure that water was poured individually over each one. Was this valid? The Catholic Church thought not: Anyone who later sought to be received into the Catholic Church would be “conditionally baptized,” the priest saying “If you have not been baptized, I baptize you…”

But following the Oxford Movement in the Anglican Church and, later, increasing ecumenical contact, the Catholic Church has recognized well-attested Anglican baptisms as valid.

It is not necessary for baptism to be done by a priest — a layperson can do it in an emergency — so the validity of Anglican orders is not an issue here. Over the centuries, many people have been baptized by, for example, a nurse or midwife in hospital as a small baby in danger of death.

Meghan Markle was not baptized as a baby, and her family — her parents divorced while she was a child — had a mixed religious heritage. Church attendance does not seem to have played much part in her life at any point. She had a lavish beach party stretching over three days when she married a longtime boyfriend in a civil ceremony. They divorced two years later.

What does the baptism mean to Miss Markle? Probably it was quite a moving experience. The past weeks must have been a whirlwind of excitement, with glaring media attention, the thrill of sudden inclusion in the inner circle of the world’s most famous family, and massive amounts of praise from every quarter.

The words of baptism are formal and solemn, and the rite brings a sense of age-old tradition and heritage — heady stuff for a woman whose main adult experience has been the California lifestyle and the world of TV soap operas. And, meanwhile, God will be at work in her soul.

The Church of England may at present be somewhat uncertain about its commitment to many Christian moral teachings — its synod recently affirmed church blessings for same-sex unions and a ceremony for celebrating someone announcing a sex change. And, other than baptism and holy matrimony, it lacks valid sacraments. But it can offer dignified ceremonial in beautiful surroundings.

And there is no reason to think that either Miss Markle or the clergyman who officiated was otherwise than sincere in their desire to do something that is good and is somehow connected with Jesus Christ. Beyond that — who knows?

And then the wedding. A ceremony in St. George’s chapel, Windsor, amid massive public excitement. Was that earlier beach ceremony valid?

The Church of England has no procedure for discussing nullity, so we just don’t know. Pageantry will be on display at Windsor: TV, cheering crowds, a tour of the riverside town with thousands of hands waving flags.

Not so long ago — in the Britain of Agatha Christie’s famed literary sleuth Miss Marple — most of that crowd would have been baptized, and a good number would have been regular churchgoers, familiar with the formularies of the Church of England.

But 2018 is the era not of Miss Marple but of Miss Markle. Today churchgoing is minimal, ignorance of Christianity widespread. Some 3 million (from a population of 57 million) attend church weekly.

What will Miss Markle’s baptism mean to most people in Britain today? Can it play a part in reviving interest in Christianity? I’m not holding my breath. But God only knows.

Linda Maria, your re-writing of history is preposterous. Diana Spencer was not “brutally killed” by “cruel” and “inhuman” reporters.

The facts are:
1. She chose to commit adultery.
2. She chose to do it, not in some deserted place for privacy, but in the middle of one of the Western world’s largest cities.
3. She spent many years courting publicity about herself, hardly a private woman.
4. The reporters merely wanted to take photos of her with her partner in adultery.
5. To escape from the truth of her adultery being publicised, she illegally and immorally:
(a) ordered a man who (from his blood alcohol content) must have been so drunk he could barely stand up, to drive her;
(b) ordered him to drive at over 100 kilometres per hour in a city zone where the speed limit was 50 km/hr;
(c) did not put on a safety belt.
Inevitably, the car crashed and she died. In effect she committed suicide, as well as cruelly murdering two other people in the process.

Your claim that Miss Markle is “half-African American” is news to me. Much less that she’s faced “racism” for it. How could the racists tell? From her skin colour she appears to be a typical Anglo California, who would have at most an eighth or a sixteenth of African descent, certainly not half.

Posted by Maria on Saturday, Mar, 17, 2018 1:41 PM (EDT):

Thank you for updates Linda Maria, you very pretty name!
I guess, since I am a cradle Catholic from a country where we all are simply citizens, and not identified by race, I personally find it very “odd”. Where I am from, we celebrated gifts for Christmas brought to the children by the Tree Kings, that was my first and very beloved experience with a melanin rich person, and so from my childhood memories, neither I, my family, nor my country men have been particularly keen on this.
I also lived in the black American part of town, went to Catholic school with kids from many back grounds (yes, including black kids) and lived and worked in NYC for many years in the 1980’s and 1990’s. I never experienced this. I must say, that as a poor immigrant, there where probably issues, however, we where taught to be so busy working on our betterment, reading good books, studying and planning our own lives, as to never allow this type of issue to take center stage. We are all blessed in our way.
Blessing to you al ALL(!)
Live Truth
Live Catholic
In Christ!

Posted by Linda Maria on Saturday, Mar, 17, 2018 12:55 AM (EDT):

Maria—yes, Meghan Markle did explain, in interviews, that she had faced racial bigotry lifelong, being half-African American! And she also said, that it made it hard also, to pursue her acting career! Thank goodness, it was not an issue, in her engagement and future marriage! She explained all about that, in many interviews! Yes, it is a sad reality of life-(and this is NOT “odd!”) that racial minorities do face lifelong prejudice, and must bravely handle it, at various times in their lives!

Posted by Maria on Friday, Mar, 16, 2018 8:52 PM (EDT):

Greetings Catholic Family-

I wish the happy couple much health, love and happiness in Christ.

I find a comment very puzzling-“She has faced racial bigotry all her life, as she is half-African American!”....this is a very odd statement, and should not be taken as a fact.
United we have stood for years & united, we continue to stand. This is a false narrative that must not be allowed to stand unchallenged.
Live truth
Live Catholic
In Christ

Posted by lyle on Friday, Mar, 16, 2018 1:14 PM (EDT):

In a “secular world” a person is baptized is rather thought provoking. In a “secular world that the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass was outlawed and death was punishment to those that failed to comply, deny the Holy Mass, England.
Marriage has came to be a mere civil contract, in the “secular World”. Yet this fact has brought major demise and total annihilation to nation after nation, for marriage as a “civil contract” is the ruination of Family. Family is the foundation of a strong civilization, devoid of Family, Family structure, a civilization crumbles every time, time and again.

In the harsh reality, a nation devoid of Family, a nation with marriage as a civil contract, devoid of marriage as God himself invented, is the mere Path to Hell.

Posted by Bob Baird on Thursday, Mar, 15, 2018 1:51 PM (EDT):

I agree with Linda Maria
This is a cheap and gossipy piece of very bad journalism

Posted by mrscracker on Wednesday, Mar, 14, 2018 2:27 PM (EDT):

Posted by Minerva Coyne:

“My guess is that Meghan was baptized In The Catholic Church. Catholic Schools require Records of sacraments received as part of the application.”
*****************
Catholic schools accept non-Catholics as students, too. Also, the Anglican Church receives members who have been baptized as Catholics. Re-baptism is not required unless there’s a question about the validity.
In any case, it seems as though those would be her own private concerns. We can wish her the best & be glad she’s received the Sacrament of Baptism one way or another.

Posted by Judith on Wednesday, Mar, 14, 2018 12:31 PM (EDT):

Baptism for the love of a man not for the love of Jesus Christ. this women will do anything to get her man, sad state when one uses the Law and sacraments of God to obtain what is of this world. One should love the Lord God with ones whole heart, mind and soul. and then love others. seems this Baptism is the perfect sign that she loves Harry above her Lord and God by being divorce and then being baptized to allow her to marry. looks this way, who knows what any person is thinking !

Posted by Minerva Coyne on Wednesday, Mar, 14, 2018 8:34 AM (EDT):

My guess is that Meghan was baptized In The Catholic Church. Catholic Schools require Records of sacraments received as part of the application.

Posted by Linda Maria on Tuesday, Mar, 13, 2018 10:23 PM (EDT):

I felt so badly for the two young sons of Princess Diana, when their beloved mother was brutally killed, in the car accident, in Paris! Now, her youngest son, Prince Harry, has finally found true love, and will soon marry—and hopefully, he will be blessed with a happy future! Bless him! It is in very poor taste, for a respectable Catholic publication, to sink to the low level of a cheap, sensational, gossipy Hollywood tabloid, with a cheap article of gossip and criticism, of the foreign baptism in a foreign church, of Prince Harry’s fiancee—a non-Catholic, and no-longer-American public figure! And it’s so nice, that Meghan was blessed with a good, lucrative, successful acting job, in a soap opera! (Is there jealousy?) Bless her! She had to give up her career, to leave America, and marry Price Harry! Very brave of her! She also has faced racial bigotry all her life, as she is half-African American! Poor girl—she gave up everything for her new marriage—and she deserves her privacy, regarding her Anglican baptism, and forthcoming marriage preparations—and new responsibilities, as a new member of the British Royal Family—- a hard, demanding life role! I wish the British couple all the best! And they need their privacy!! Poor Princess Diana’s death was due to the brutal, inhuman reporters (the papparrazzi) that she was trying to escape, for privacy—they cruelly chased her car, ending in the horrible car crash, and her tragic death!

Posted by James on Tuesday, Mar, 13, 2018 8:46 PM (EDT):

@Nicholas Bellord:

Neither Markle nor her first husband were baptized (he is Jewish). This is a textbook case of the Pauline Privilege of 1 Corinthians 7:15.

Posted by Donald Link on Tuesday, Mar, 13, 2018 6:52 PM (EDT):

The wonder of it all is that CofE clergy was located to be able to perform a traditional baptism. I was under the impression that most had moved to the church of what’s happening now.

Posted by Kenneth Asel on Tuesday, Mar, 13, 2018 6:27 PM (EDT):

Take a look some time at the Anglican press. The Church Times will do. Ecumenical progress is never made by questioning the beliefs and customs of other churches, but in using the insight of both to discover deeper understanding. Ms. Boggle has a very uninformed theology and previous writings display an absence of our Lord’s charity. Most disappointing

Posted by Wendy Gardner on Tuesday, Mar, 13, 2018 4:58 PM (EDT):

Posted by Kate on Tuesday, March 13, at 9:04 EDT.
That is a question that should have been asked by the people preparing her for Baptism. It is a good one.

Posted by Albion on Tuesday, Mar, 13, 2018 4:27 PM (EDT):

It makes one wonder about the current deplorable state of the Catholic Church in USA and elsewhere that, when Megan Markle attended a private Catholic school, it never occurred to her to be baptised. Assuming that she chose to be baptised by the Anglican Archbishop of Canterbury for all the right reasons (and I sincerely do not want to judge her), why did it take an encounter with the British Royal Family to make that choice? Catholic schools these days are a spiritual dead weight on the Church and are not fit for purpose.

Posted by mrscracker on Tuesday, Mar, 13, 2018 2:32 PM (EDT):

Well, praise God at least she was baptized & that it still counts for something in Britain.
I greatly admire the Royal Family, even though some members have carried out their duties erratically. Queen Elizabeth is a marvel of duty to country in this day & time. And so was her father.

Posted by TomD on Tuesday, Mar, 13, 2018 12:46 PM (EDT):

The Anglican Bishop Gavin Ashenden had some choice comments about the Church of England and used this even as a segue. See https://ashenden.org/2018/03/04/meghan-markle-justin-welby-the-use-and-abuse-of-baptism/

Posted by Nicolas Bellord on Tuesday, Mar, 13, 2018 12:03 PM (EDT):

Formally the ecclesiastical courts of Anglican Church granted decrees of nullity. Since 1873 this has been taken over by the civil courts but presumably the Church of England would recognise such a decree. The problem is that the law derives from Canon Law of the Church of England originally that of the Roman Catholic Church but it does not have the developments that the Roman Catholic Church has introduced more recently and the grounds for annulment are much narrower so getting such a decree is much more difficult than in the RC Church. From the facts stated in this case I would rate her chances as nil.

Posted by Paul Yancey on Tuesday, Mar, 13, 2018 11:56 AM (EDT):

What in heaven or on earth was the point of this article? Full of what ifs and maybes and mights and of no value whatsoever. I’m sorry I took the time to read it.

Posted by Jane on Tuesday, Mar, 13, 2018 11:49 AM (EDT):

Three of my husband’s nieces were baptized Lutherans as babies. Now, since attending secular college, they have all left the Lutheran Church and have succumbed to the heresy of Evangelicalism. They have all been “re-baptized”. We are just devastated. I just don’t understand how anyone who is a Christian who has been baptized, doesn’t understand that they only need to be baptized one time. How mislead they are. I’m so thankful to be a member of the Church that Jesus, Himself, established - the Catholic Church!

Posted by Kate on Tuesday, Mar, 13, 2018 9:04 AM (EDT):

Her baptism will play no role in British religious life. It may have ben sincere, but would she have chosen to be baptized if it did not ensure her place in the royal family?

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Joanna Bogle is Visiting Research Fellow at St Mary’s University, Twickenham, London. She is the author of some twenty books, including several historical biographies and A Book of Seasons and Celebrations with information on traditions and customs marking the Church year. Her most recent book is John Paul II - Man of Prayer with colleague Clare Anderson, exploring the spiritual life of St. John Paul the Great. She broadcasts regularly with EWTN and has recently initiated popular Catholic History Walks around London. She blogs at “Auntie Joanna Writes” and EWTN’s “Catholic Journalist in London”.